Five amongst 126 arrested in the deplorable attack against the team of health workers and police have now tested positive for the novel coronavirus, raising suspicion among the investigative agencies if the patients had known about their malady in advance and deliberately chose to be a part of the mob that went rampaging against the health officials visiting the minority-dominated area of Padarayanapura in Bengaluru on April 19 to spread the virus.
Remember that shameful Bengaluru attack on healthcare workers? Of the 126 men arrested, 5 have tested #Covid19 positive. Were they rioting while infected? The full story @ 5.30pm. pic.twitter.com/x273f8v2jD
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) April 24, 2020
While the attack took place 5 days ago, in which 126 people have already been arrested, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka CN Ashwath Narayan said Friday that five of those arrested have tested positive for the coronavirus. Narayan added that while two patients were tested positive late on Thursday, three others tested positive on Friday.
A total of 126 arrested in connection with the attack against the healthcare workers on April 19 were all sent to the district jail in a nearby Ramanagara after being remanded to judicial custody by the court. All the inmates were screened for COVID-19, out of which five of them have been found positive for the contagion.
The unruly mob attack against the health workers had elicited a widespread reaction from the Karnataka politicians, with chief minister B S Yediyurappa terming the reprehensible attack as “goondaism” and directing strict action against those who take the law into their hands.
Attack on healthcare workers by a violent mob in Bengaluru’s coronavirus hotspot Padarayanapura
On the evening of Sunday, 19 April, a team of health workers and BBMP officials in Bengaluru was brutally attacked by a violent mob in the Padarayanapura locality, a coronavirus hotspot. The government health team was there to quarantine the primary contacts of coronavirus positive patients.
The violent mob attacked the police after the primary contacts of the coronavirus patients refused to be taken into quarantine. The mob is seen brutally attacking the policemen and health workers and damaging the barricades, tents and other setups made by the officials.
A group of BBMP doctors, nurses and ASHA workers had gone to the Padarayanapura locality to take into quarantine 58 primary contacts of coronavirus positive patients to a government-run quarantine centre.
The Padarayanapura locality is one of the worst affected localities in Bengaluru. It had been declared a hotspot and barricades had been set up by the police to enforce a complete lockdown. The violent mob also broke down the barricades. As per a report in Times of India, two Tablighi Jamaatis who had returned from Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz had first tested positive and then 15 of their contacts were found to be coronavirus positive.
